Aerial apparatus of the heavier-than-air class.



J. J.-DONNELLY. AERIAL APPARATUS OF THE HEAVIER THAN AIR GLASS.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 9, 1909.

' Patented Apr. 11, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

wi/lmeooao w J. J. DONNELLY. 'AERIAL APPARATUS OF THE HEAVIER THAN AIR GLASS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 9, 1909.

Patented Apr. 11, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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Be it known-that I, Jenn J. DONNELLY, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Aerial Apparatus of the Heavier-Than-Air Class; and .1 do.

declare the followin to be a full, clear, and exact description p the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art towhich erence being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of refer- K ence marked thereonfwhich. orma part of this specification.

ter of the other, the sha s being extendedupwardly, and eachbeing equipped with a propelling wheel, composed of a series of blades, as hereinafter set forth, more in detail. The two propellers coiiperate to draw the machine in the same direction, and theyare rotated in opposite directions, their blades or fans being inclined accordingly.

In my improved construction, the lower pro-- 'pellel' is smaller than the upper, and rotates more rapidly. The blades of the upper propeller are, discontinued, as their ribs or arms approach the center of rotation, thus allowing the air to pass downwardly freely.

As the inner extremities of these blades have little motion, as compared with. their outer extremities, it is. believed advantageous to construct the upper propeller'blades in the p t us doing away with what would otherwise be practically inactive portions of the blades, owing to the slow movement of these portions, as compared with the movement of the outer portions of the bladesg Another advantage'is that the lower wheel running at a higher speed than the upper; one, works with greater eflicienc'y.

' in the downward current already formedby the upper pr present inv,en tibn, j the ends of'the blades elleral Furthermore, in my farther from the shaft or axis of rotation, are lowered, giving-each propeller a parachute shape; I lhe purpose of this is to obtain a certain amount of pressure of air beneath the propellers and permit-the lower j The center 0 the smaller propelleris co'vpropeller to o, crate in air while compressed.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr. it, that; p Application filed August 9, I809. 'serial lio. 511,853.

i ered so that the compressed air cannot escape. upwardly through that part o'f the propeller which would necessarily be inoperative, owing to its comparatively slow movement. This featurealso gives an important parachute effect in descending whether by accident or design. This covering should be of silk or some similar light material The extent of the area covered should be determined by the requirements of eficiency. in

my improved construction, theblades bow along the line of the radius, com re's'sing the air to the center of the blade an preventing its escape either beyond the area of the prov pellers or through. the slowly movlng center. 'My invention relates to improvements in Looking at the blade from beneath, it appears concave to a line running from the shaft to,thecircumference. is the con-- struction of the blades, they should as far as convenient be bent transversel upwardly in .the line of their movement w on operat ing, 50 that looking from beneath, they would be convex to the line of their movement. The purposeof this constructionis to decrease the resistance of the air in the line of the plane of the propeller in proportion to the resistance obtained in the line of the shafts. This is'the opposite of the purpose oifath'e construction of the blades oi: a windmill, which is to develop resistance of air in the line of the plane ofm'o'veinent of the'devic'e. Q p v Still another novel feature of my present construction consists in the fact that the upper and larger propeller is attached to and driven by the outside shaft, the upper ea tremities of the ribs of the blades, however, being journaled on the inside shaft, which extendsfor this pur ose above the lower propeller, the object eing' to permit both propellers to be brought comparatively close together, and still braced from below, s cur-- a light. and strong construction- Having briefly outlined my improved constructioml will proceed to describe the Same in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which is llustrated an embodiment thereof. Inthis drawing: Fi tion of an aerial apparatus, illustrating my improved construction. In this view, no attempt has been made to Show a car for the purpose of carrying passenger's, only suchfeatures being brought out as are necessary in the illustration of the novel features covie 1 is a side elevaered by the present application. Fig. 2 is a top planview of the same, a number of the" blades of the upper propeller being broken same parts in all the views. I

shaft 6, and a hollow sha away to permit .of better illustration of the lower propeller. I f

.. Th same reference characters indicate the Let the numeral ?5 designate framework in which is 'ournaled a center 7 through which the shaft 6,. passes. These two shafts are e uipped with gears 8 and 9 respectively,

w 'ch mesh withgears10 a1id'12 respectively, fast on shafts 13- and 14. The shaft 13, is continuous with the'operatingishaft'of v i 15 an engine 15. Uponthis shaft'is mounted andmade fast a gear 16, which meshes with a smaller fisr 17, fast on. the shaft 141 ,By virtue of t gearing, the two shaftsfi and 7 are rotated in opposite directions. To" the upper extremity of'the shaft 7 ,are secured he lowerextremities of tie rods or wires 18,

whose upper extremities are connected, as.

shown" at 19, with the lower ends of blades Ofn the upper propeller. Connected with these blades are bows or ribs 21, whose upper extremities are connec ted with a ring or collar 22, 1ournaled on the upper end of the shaft 6. The lower. propeller is-made fast to.

per extremities of the rods the shaft 6, about midway of, its length,by means of tie rods or 23-, *whose lower extremities are connectedhwith-a collar 24, made fast on the last "named shaft." The upas shown at 25, with thelower ends of the blades 26 of the lower propeller. The upper extremities ofthese blades are suitably connected with a collar 27, fast on the shaft 6. The inner extremities of the blades-of the upper propeller'are vertically discontinued,

continued to the collar 22, their innerex-- .tremitles would be practically useless, by

, pared with the movement,

the said blades being connected with' the collar 22, only bysthejribs 21. v The reason for this constructioniis thatif theblades were reason of their slow movement, as com-- tionsof the blades. It is'thus found that the inner extremities of these blades if continued would beat hindrance, or reduce the efliciency of the apparatus for the purpose intended.

, The inner extremities of the blades 26, of-

i the lower propeller extend inwardl into the open area below the rib extension 1, of the upper propeller, and may be given suflicie'nt speed tocoeperate' with the upper propeller blades to such an extent as to produce a-machine of far greater efliciencythan where a single. propeller alone is employed, or where two propellr s are employed, both ha-vin blades. extending inwardly to the shaft. Furthermore by doing away with the inner extremities of the propeller blades, the apparatus is made much lighter than where these blades extend to the shaft, as will ,be

readily understood. Therefore, in my ima suitable 23, are connected,

of the outer porproved construction, I lessen the weight of vthe apparatus without a loss of efficiency, which is considered an important feature in ap aratus of this character.

rom the foregoing description, the operation of my improved construction will be fore explained, will impart rotation to the my intention to rotate the lower propeller which is carried by the shaft 6, at a greater speed than the upper propeller, the differential being sufficient to cause the lower propeller to do the same work or approximately readily understood. Assuming that the engine is inoperation, the rotation, of its shaft through themedium of the gearing heretoshafts 6 and 7 in reverse directions, it being? the same work as the upper propeller, while blades of considerably less area and. 1

havingl exten 'ng fartherinwa-rdly. toward the cen- '5 ter or axis 'of rotation. By virtue .of the peculiar shape of 't'hc'blades 20 of the upper propeller, whereby they are bent or bowed longitudinally, the air is driven inwardly,

toward the center of. the apparatus and somewhat compressed, thus giving the blades pf the lower propeller a resistance medium 'of greater density than normal atmospheric air, thereby increasing the efliciency of the operationof the lower propeller. Furthermore, by virtue of the longitudinallybowed or bent shape of the blades 20, of the upper propeller, a better parachute result is. ob: tained during the descent of the apparatus.

Attention is called to the faict that the' central portion ofthe lower propeller is covered between the inner extremitiesof the blades '26 and the'shaft, in order to facilitate the parachute efi'e'ct'during the descentof the apparatus. This covering 1s deslgnated 28.

Having thus described my invention, what 7 I elaimis:

.1. An aerial a p'aratus, comprising two shafts coaxially 'ournaled, and propellers consisting of a series of radial arc-shaped blades, one propeller being smaller than the other, the smaller propeller being fixedly mounted on the shafts and having radially arranged arc-shaped propeller blades, one of the propellers being smaller than theother and mounted to rotate beneath the larger propeller, the larger propeller being jour- 10 peller blades of the smaller naled on the central shaft, and having condiscontinued at the center of rotation, while the blades of the smaller propeller extend. entirely to their center of rotation, andla covering for the inner extremities of the pro-E propeller, for the purpose set forth.

3. Aerial apparatus comprising two shafts: coaxially journaled,-.means for rotating the shafts in opposite directions, a propellers mounted upon the sh afts, one of the prop'ellers being smaller than the other; the said propellers consisting of radially arranged arc-shaped blades, the smaller propeller being fixedly connected with the central shaft below the larger propeller, the larger propeller being journaled on the central shaft, and connecting rods fixedly connecting the other extremities of the blades with the outer shaft, substantially as described. p

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

J. DONNELLY.

Witnesses:

' A. J. OBRmN,

A. Ennn'r OBmnn. 

